Report of Meetings for 1880, by James Hardy. 253 



On its being afterwards exbibited by Mr Tbompson, at Morpetb, 

 it was found to correspond very closely with that figured by 

 Miss Stirling for the "Proceedings." 



Mr Watson exhibited a nest of the long-tailed Tit {Parus 

 caudatus), which had been found in a furze bush at Chapel, near 

 Dunse. 



The Eev. Mr Maclean, AUanton, was proposed as a member. 



Belford is an exceedingly quiet place ; there is no stir in the 

 streets in the evenings ; and the bat flutters undisturbed amid 

 the grey dwellings. In the olden times the houses were covered 

 with heather and sods, and the place being liable to be burned 

 by the Scots, was very poor. In the reign of Charles I. (1639) 

 it was in a state of declension. " Belfort nothing like the name 

 either in strength or beauty, is the most miserable beggarly 

 town or town of sods that ever was made in an afternoon of loam 

 and sticks. In aU the town not a loaf of bread, nor a quart of 

 beer, nor a lock of hay, nor a peck of oats, and little shelter for 

 horse or man."*' Mark, 1723, says "the village appears but 

 poorly, and many of its houses ill-built." There are no longer 

 any of the " clay-daubed" cottages of 1639. 



- There is a tradition that on one occasion the town was visited 

 by the plague, and the bodies of the dead were buried in their 

 wearing apparel on Belford Moor. Fragments of the dresses 

 have been dug up there by people who attempted to disturb the 

 tombs, in hope of finding coins in the pockets. Another circum- 

 stance of the same visitation has been preserved in memory. 

 When the plague reached the village of Ancroft, in North Dur- 

 ham, it was then inhabited by a colony of "doggers." When 

 any were seized with the disease, they were carried out to a hill 

 face, which was overgrown with broom, out of which little bowers 

 were constructed, under which the victims were laid till they 

 died ; and then both the hut and the body were consumed with 

 fire. 



Among Mr CuUey's birds preserved at Fowberry, which I saw 

 on this occasion, the following are of interest, as belonging to the 

 neighbourhood : — two smews {Mergus albellus) shot by him on the 

 Till ; two goosanders {Mergus Merganser) ; and two water-rails 

 {Rallus aquaticus), which are rare. There are two bitterns 

 {Botaurus stellaris), both shot on the estate ; and Mr Culley had 

 * Court and Times of Charles I., vol. ii., p. 285. 



